Chapter 4 - THE INTERROGATION TABLE
By 4:00 a.m., the door to Interview Room B swung open, and Detective Miller walked back in. He wasn't alone. Behind him entered two federal agents in dark tactical windbreakers bearing bold yellow letters: FBI CYBER DIVISION.
“Emily Vance?” the lead agent asked, holding out a badge. “I’m Special Agent Vance—no relation, I assure you.” A grim smile touched the corner of his mouth. “Your father and brother are currently in custody. We executed the search warrant on your family home ten minutes ago. We recovered three hard drives hidden inside the basement floor joists, matching the encryption hashes on the MacBook you brought us.”
I let out a long, ragged breath that felt like I had been holding it for eighteen years. “Did they try to run?”
“Your brother tried to flush a flash drive down the toilet,” Agent Vance said smoothly. “Our tech unit recovered it before it cleared the U-bend. As for your parents, they’re currently finger-printing downstairs, frantically trying to figure out which lawyer will take a case where the evidence is air-tight and self-authenticating.”
Miller slid a heavy manila folder across the table toward me. “You did good, kid. Without this machine and your quick thinking, the NorthBridge syndicate would have washed another million dollars by sunrise, and you would have been sitting in a federal penitentiary taking the fall for a network that spans three states.”
“What happens to me now?” I asked, the old instinct of bracing for punishment creeping back into my chest.
“Nothing bad,” Agent Vance assured me gently. “We’re entering you into a witness protection intake for preliminary questioning, though given the public nature of the federal indictments dropping tomorrow morning, you won't need to hide for long. The community college you’re attending? We’ve already contacted the dean. Your full tuition and housing are covered under a federal whistleblower grant.”
I looked down at the silver MacBook sitting between us. The screen had gone dark, its malicious secrets locked away behind military-grade encryption.
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“Can I keep the laptop?” I asked quietly.
Miller chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound of genuine amusement. “Consider it evidence of your emancipation, Emily. Though I’d recommend changing the desktop background.”
